Adrian. G Parker

Oxford Brookes University · Department of Social Sciences

In Southeast Arabia (i.e. the United Arab Emirates [UAE] and Oman), geoconservation is a budding initiative, but to date, there has been limited evaluation of geoheritage sites in this region. Many geoheritage evaluation methods have been developed over the last 20 years, but the most popular methods reflect experiences from experts in Europe. The...

Although phytolith research has come of age in archaeology and palaeoecology internationally, it has remained relatively marginalised from mainstream practice in Australasia. The region’s initial isolation from international scientific communities and uniqueness of its vegetation communities, has led to an exclusive set of challenges and interrupti...

Investigation of Homo sapiens’ palaeogeographic expansion into African mountain environments are changing the understanding of our species’ adaptions to various extreme Pleistocene climates and habitats. Here, we present a vegetation and precipitation record from the Ha Makotoko rockshelter in western Lesotho, which extends from ~60,000 to 1,000 ye...

Human dispersals and adaptations are the result of the dynamic relationship between cultural and biological systems. This chapter focuses on the last half a million years with an emphasis on the environmental controls on human dispersal and adaptation, with the perspective of spatiotemporal variations in environments as a key factor. It provides a...

Quaternary environments on the Arabian Peninsula shifted between pronounced arid conditions and phases of increased rainfall, which had a profound impact on Earth surface processes. However, while aeolian sediment dynamics are reasonably well understood, there is a lack of knowledge with regard to variability in the fluvial systems. Presented here...

Quaternary palaeoenvironmental (QP) sites in Southeast Arabia are important not only to understand the history of global climate change but also to study how ancient humans adapted to a changing natural environment. These sites, however, are currently missing from conservation frameworks despite reports of destroyed sites and sites under imminent t...

DOWNLOAD here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/xlomescmk456g4s6qn7ze/Cohen-et-al.-2022-QSR-Late-Quaternary-climate-change-at-Kati-Thanda.pdf?rlkey=m1kjcztftaud0c0ufjj7lznra&dl=0 _____________________________________________________________________________________Williams Point is an iconic late Quaternary sedimentary sequence exposed at the southern...

Changing climatic conditions are thought to be a major control of human presence in Arabia during the Paleolithic. Whilst the Pleistocene archaeological record shows that periods of increased monsoon rainfall attracted human occupation and led to increased population densities, the impact of arid conditions on human populations in Arabia remains la...

The widespread formation of organic rich sediments in south-east Australia during the Holocene (Marine Isotope Stage [MIS] 1) reflects the return of wetter and warmer climates following the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Yet, little is known about whether a similar event occurred in the region during the previous interglacial (MIS 5e). A 6.8 m sedimen...

The Late Pleistocene occupation of Southeast Arabia is well documented in the sequence recorded at Jebel Faya, Emirate of Sharjah (United Arab Emirates). Here the archaeological record suggests pulses of occupation in the region between ca. 125,000 and 10,000 years ago. The large chronological gaps observed between settlement phases are thought to...

This paper presents the key findings of a multidisciplinary study investigating the nature and timing of coastal landscape evolution in eastern Saudi Arabia during the Holocene. To date, most sea level reconstructions for the Arabo-Persian Gulf are based on uncalibrated 14C ages without correction for marine reservoir effects, or lack precision wit...

This special issue is a great opportunity for presenting and promoting new fieldwork, tools and methodologies in geoarchaeology to an international audience. Proposals (abstracts of 500 words) might be submitted to the guest editors until the 20/11/2019. Tara Beuzen-Waller: tara.beuzen@gmail.com; Stéphane Desruelles: stephane.desruelles@sorbonne-...

The Fertile Crescent, its hilly flanks and surrounding drylands has been a critical region for studying how climate has influenced societal change, and this review focuses on the region over the last 20,000 years. The complex social, economic, and environmental landscapes in the region today are not new phenomena and understanding their interaction...

New data on the Neolithic occupation of the northern UAE coast were collected during the 2017–2018 excavations at the shellmidden site of UAQ36. Although so far limited to a fifth-millennium occupation, this data can be contextualized within the broader research programme of the French Archaeological Mission in the Emirate of Umm al-Quwain. When co...

Records of former lake and wetland development in present day arid/hyper-arid environments provide an important source of information for palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental studies. In Arabia, such records are typically confined to eccentricity-modulated insolation maxima, and are often spatially and temporally discontinuous. Here we present re...

Environmental change during the Holocene in eastern Saudi Arabia is poorly understood. Few detailed records have been examined to date, with limited evidence available from dunes, lakes and sea-level records. While the geomorphological setting of the Jubail region has been described in detail by Barth,1 the chronology for the development of this la...

We report species‐specific reservoir effects for shells found at excavations along the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Part of the data was reported at the last meeting of the IGCP 639 project and since then we have extended our research along both coasts. For one site we are able to monitor changes in reservoir effects for two shell species (Te...

Enzel et al. (2015) reassess sedimentary records of Early to Mid-Holocene lake sites in Arabia based on a reinterpretation of published multiproxy data and a qualitative analysis of satellite imagery. The authors conclude that these sites represent palaeo-wetland environments rather than palaeolakes and that the majority of the Arabian Peninsula ex...

The early part of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (ca. 60–50 ka) is a crucial period for studying human demography and behaviour in south-west Asia, and how these relate to climatic changes. However, the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental records for MIS 3 in critical areas such as the Arabian Peninsula remain poorly developed. Here, we present fi...

This study investigates hydrological responses to climatic shifts using sediment flux data derived from two dated palaeolake records in south-east Arabia. Flux values are generally low during the early Holocene humid period (EHHP) (9.0–6.4k cal a BP) although several short-lived pulses of increased detrital input are recorded, the most prominent of...

The Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains are southern Africa’s highest and give rise to South Africa’s largest river, the Orange-Senqu. At Melikane Rockshelter in highland Lesotho (~1800 m a.s.l.), project AMEMSA (Adaptations to Marginal Environments in the Middle Stone Age) has documented a pulsed human presence since at least MIS 5. Melikane can be inter...

At about 50 km north of Dubai, located at the limit of the largest natural lagoon of the United Arab Emirates, the site of Umm al Qaiwain UAQ2 is the earliest Neolithic coastal settlement known today on the Arabic side of the Persian Gulf. This stratified shell midden, excavated since 2011, yielded house features including load-bearing posts and hu...

Located at the crossroads between Africa and Eurasia, Arabia occupies a pivotal position for human migration and dispersal during the Late Pleistocene. Deducing the timing of humid and arid phases is critical to understanding when the Rub' al-Khali desert acted as a barrier to human movement and settlement. Recent geological mapping in the northern...

An early-to mid-Holocene humid phase has been identified in various Arabian geo-archives, although significant regional heterogeneity has been reported in the onset, duration and stability of this period. A multi-proxy lake and dune record from Wahalah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) documents significant variations in hydrology, biological produ...

Climate models are potentially useful tools for addressing human dispersals and demographic change. The Arabian Peninsula is becoming increasingly significant in the story of human dispersals out of Africa during the Late Pleistocene. Although characterised largely by arid environments today, emerging climate records indicate that the peninsula was...

The Arabian Peninsula is situated at an important crossroads for the movement of Pleistocene human populations out of, and into, Africa. Although the timings, routes and frequencies of such dispersals have not yet been confirmed by genetic, fossil or archaeological evidence, expansion into Arabia would have been facilitated by humid periods driven...

The dispersal of human populations out of Africa into Arabia was most likely linked to episodes of climatic amelioration, when increased monsoon rainfall led to the activation of drainage systems, improved freshwater availability, and the development of regional vegetation. Here we present the first dated terrestrial record from southeast Arabia th...

Excavations at the Eton Rowing Course and along the Maidenhead, Windsor and Eton Flood Alleviation Channel revealed extensive evidence for occupation in an evolving landscape of floodplains and gravel terraces set amidst the shifting channels of the Thames. The most significant evidence was a series of early Neolithic midden deposits, preserved in...

Pre-Pottery Neolithic assemblages are best known from the fertile areas of the Mediterranean Levant. The archaeological site of Jebel Qattar 101 (JQ-101), at Jubbah in the southern part of the Nefud Desert of northern Saudi Arabia, contains a large collection of stone tools, adjacent to an Early Holocene palaeolake. The stone tool assemblage contai...

To disperse out of sub-Saharan Africa, it was necessary for hominins to cross the deserts of either the Sahara and/or Arabia. Thus, understanding the palaeoclimate of the Saharo-Arabian region is central to determining the role these deserts played in the peopling of the planet; when did they act as barriers and when were they more humid, opening d...

Climatic changes in Arabia are of critical importance to our understanding of both monsoon variability and the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMH) out of Africa. The timing of dispersal is associated with the occurrence of pluvial periods during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 (ca. 130–74 ka), after which arid conditions between ca. 74 and 1...

The major driver of palaeoclimatic dynamics over the southeast Arabian region is the varying latitudinal interface between the Westerly driven shamaal winds and a northward branch of the southwesterly Indian Ocean Summer Monsoon (IOM). At present, this latter system is restricted in extent to the southern coastal regions of Yemen and Oman. Monsoona...

Climatic changes in Arabia are of critical importance to our understanding of both monsoon variability and the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMH) out of Africa. The timing of dispersal is associated with the occurrence of pluvial periods during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 (ca. 130-74 ka), after which arid conditions between ca. 74 and 1...

Key to the understanding of Pleistocene human dispersals and settlement dynamics is knowledge about the distribution of human habitats in space and time. To add information about the characteristics of inhabited environments along the South Arabian dispersal route, this paper presents paleo-environmental data from deposits excavated at Jebel Faya (...

The early to mid-Holocene has long been recognised as a period of wetter climate with widespread lacustrine development and vegetation expansion throughout south-east Arabia. Recent palaeoclimate data has, however, transformed our understanding of the Holocene Pluvial Phase (HPP) and evidence presented in this paper demonstrates that climate was ne...

We are in the grip of global warming: sea levels are rising; glaciers are melting, Arctic sea ice is thinning, meteorological events are becoming more extreme. But how do these changes compare with the environmental changes that have occurred in the past? How can they be put into perspective? What can we learn from the past to help us better unders...

Pre-Pottery Neolithic assemblages are best known from the fertile areas of the Mediterranean Levant. The archaeological site of Jebel Qattar 101 (JQ-101), at Jubbah in the southern part of the Nefud Desert of northern Saudi Arabia, contains a large collection of stone tools, adjacent to an Early Holocene palaeolake. The stone tool assemblage contai...

The Arabian Peninsula is a key region for understanding hominin dispersals and the effect of climate change on prehistoric demography, although little information on these topics is presently available owing to the poor preservation of archaeological sites in this desert environment. Here, we describe the discovery of three stratified and buried ar...

Mapping and palaeohydrological methods report. (DOCX)

Residue analysis report. (PDF)

Core analysis report. (DOCX)

Supporting information for OSL dating. (DOC)

Despite the present hyper-aridity, archaeological investigations in South-east Arabia have demonstrated that the region supported extensive human communities throughout the Neolithic and Bronze Age. These early populations utilised the region’s natural environment in a variety of ways, ranging from the exploitation of coastal resources to practicin...

The Youngest Toba Tuff (YTT) eruption ∼74 ka is the largest volcanic event to occur during the last two million years. This paper presents a high resolution landscape reconstruction for the Jurreru Valley, south India, immediately prior to this eruption. Primary ash fall deposits have sealed the pre-Toba surface of the Jurreru Valley, and subsequen...

It has been hypothesised that in sand seas where multiple dune generations occur, each generation represents a distinct terrestrial response to contrasting palaeoatmospheric circulation conditions (Lancaster N, Kocurek G, Singhvi A, Pandey V, Deynoux M, Ghienne J-Fet al.(2002) Late Pleistocene and Holocene dune activity and wind regimes in the west...

Extreme Late Quaternary climatic events, sometimes of considerable continental extent, are being proposed as major contributors to ancestral human behaviour, particularly migration, in Africa. Most recently, a catastrophic drought in the Afro-Asian monsoon region has been proposed for 16 000–17 000 years ago, driven by global impacts of the Heinric...

The late Holocene environmental history of the Lesotho highlands, southern Africa, is poorly understood with few detailed studies to date. At Likoaeng, Senqu Valley, Lesotho, a 3m stratified sedimentary sequence from an open-air archaeological site records vegetation development for the period 3400–1070cal.BP. Phytolith analyses and bulk sediment o...

The activities of hunter-gatherers are often captured in rockshelters, but here the authors present a study of a riverside settlement outside one, with a rich sequence from 1300 BC to AD 800. Thanks to frequent flooding, periods of occupation were sealed and could be examined in situ. The phytolith and faunal record, especially fish, chronicle chan...

The timing of the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMH) out of Africa is a fundamental question in human evolutionary studies. Existing data suggest a rapid coastal exodus via the Indian Ocean rim around 60,000 years ago. We present evidence from Jebel Faya, United Arab Emirates, demonstrating human presence in eastern Arabia during the las...

There are many examples of the effects of climate change on human societies evident during the Holocene, not least in West Asia (Staubwasser and Weiss 2006). For example, the 8200 cal. year climate event may have forced abandonment of agricultural settlements in northern Mesopotamia and the Levant (Anderson et al. 2007). Conversely, the ‘Greening o...

Environmental change in Arabia has oscillated between climatic extremes throughout the Quaternary period with evidence for ancient pluvials, apparent in the lacustrine sediments, alluvial fans and gravels, paleosols, and speleothems (e.g., McClure, 1976; Schultz and Whitney, 1986; Parker et al., 2006a, 2006b; Lézine et al., 2007; Fleitmann et al.,...

South-east Arabia is uniquely positioned with respect to both palaeoclimate and archaeological studies. While its role in the migration and dispersal of early modern humans continues to generate debate, its location at the critical interface between two of the world's major climate systems, the Indian Ocean Monsoon (IOM) and the mid-latitude wester...

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) accumulates large amounts of silicon which improves its growth and health due to enhanced resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Silicon uptake and loading to xylem in rice are predominantly active processes performed by transporters encoded by the recently identified genes Lsi1 (Si influx transporter gene) and Lsi2 (Si e...

A research programme has been set up at Higueral de Valleja Cave in southern Spain to investigate the late survival and eventual extinction of the southern Iberian Neanderthals and the arrival of modern humans. Of key interest in the first phase of research was to understand the depositional environment in the entrance chamber of the cave and to es...

Robust, dateable sources of palaeoenvironmental proxy data are scarce in the southwestern Kalahari Desert, and this study investigates the potential of pan (playa) floor sediments as an archive of late Quaternary environmental change. Augering has revealed the presence of up to 3 m of clay- and silt-rich deposits in the base of Witpan, a small pan...

Evidence of small glaciers is often used to infer past atmospheric climate through calculation of steady-state ELAs. However, if topographic niches such as shading or windblown-snow augmented mass-balance then ELAs cannot reflect regional climate and determining the significance of these topoclimates is therefore important. The Brecon Beacons, Sout...

The January 2009 fieldwork season conducted geomorphological and palaeoenviromental surveys in as yet unexplored parts of the Lake Megafazzan Basin, as well as continuing research in the Wadi al-Hayat and Ubari Sand Sea. Lake Megafazzan sediments were investigated at two sites on the eastern margin of the basin. At the first site, east of Tamessah,...

In this study we consider two colluvial sites that occur in proximity to the Mkondvo River in the Middelveld region of Swaziland (mean annual rainfall is about 800 mm). Mashila (26°42'30"S; 31°25'50"E, altitude 350 m) a major donga (500 m long, 100 m wide and some 8 m deep) and sediment sections were described and sampled . It is composed of a grey...

During the Late Quaternary, the climate of Arabia has fluctuated between periods of higher rainfall and fluvial activity, dominated by the influence of the Indian Ocean Monsoon (IOM) and drier/arid conditions under the influence of the westerlies. This has left a rich legacy of landforms from which temporal and spatial patterns of environmental cha...